umbers, and thofe fquires that were to be knighted watched their arms that night they amounted to forty-fix: each fquire had his chamber and bath, in which he bathed. The enfuing day, the duke of Lancaster, after mass, created them knights, and prefented them with long green coats, with ftraight fleeves lined with minever, after the manner of prelates. These knights had on their left shoulders a double cord of white filk, with white tufts hanging down.

"The duke of Lancaster left the Tower this Sunday after dinner, on his return to Westminster: he was bare headed, and had round his neck the order of the king of France. The prince of Wales, fix dukes, fix earls, eighteen barons, accompanied him ; and there were, of knights and other nobility, from eight to nine hundred horfe in the proceffion. The duke was dreffed in a jacket, after the German fashion, of cloth of gold, mounted on a white courfer, with a blue garter on his left leg. He paffed through the streets of London, which were all handfomely decorated with tapestries, and other rich hangings: there were nine fountains in Cheapfide, and other streets he paffed through, that perpetually ran with white and red wines. He was escorted by prodigious numbers of gentlemen, with their fervants in liveries and badges; and the different companies of London were led by their wardens clothed in their proper livery, and with enfigns of their trade. The whole cavalcade amounted to fix thousand horfe; that escorted the duke from the Tower to Westminster.

"That fame night the duke bathed, and on the morrow confeffed himself, as he had good need to do, and according to his cuftom heard three maffes. The prelates and clergy who had been affembled then came in a large body in proceffion from Westminster-abbey, to conduct the king thither, and returned in the fame manner, the king and his lords following them. The dukes, earls, and barons wore long fcarlet robes, with mantles trimmed with ermine, and large hoods of the fame. The dukes and earls had three bars of ermine on the left arm, a quarter of a yard long, or thereabout: the barons had but two. All the knights and fquires had uniform cloaks of fcarlet, lined with minever. In the proceffion to the church, the duke had borne over his head a rich canopy of blue filk, fupported on flyer ftaves, with four golden bells that rang at the corners, by four burgeffes of Dover, who claimed it as their right. On each fide of him were the fword of Mercy and the fword of Juftice: the first was borne by the prince of Wales, and the other by the earl of Northumberland, conftable of England, for the carl of Rutland had been difmiffed. The earl of Westmoreland, marfhal of England, carried the fceptre.

"The proceffion entered the church about nine o'clock; in the middle of which was erected a fcaffold covered with crimfon cloth, and in the centre a royal throne of cloth of gold. When the duke entered the church, he feated himself on the throne, and was

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was thus in regal ftate, except having the crown on his head. The archbishop of Canterbury proclaimed from the four corners of the fcaffold, how God had given them a man for their lord and fovereign, and then asked the people if they were confenting to his being confecrated and crowned king. They unanimoufly fhouted out, Aye!' and held up their hands, promifing fealty and homage.

"After this, the duke defcended from his throne, and advanced to the altar to be confecrated. This ceremony was performed by two archbishops and ten bishops: he was ftripped of all his royal ftate before the altar, naked to his fhirt, and was then anointed and confecrated at fix places; that is to fay, on the head, the breaft, the two shoulders, before and behind, on the back and hands: they then placed a bonnet on his head; and, while this was doing, the clergy chaunted the litany, or the fervice that is performed to hallow a font.

"The king was now dreffed in a churchman's clothes like a deacon; and they put on him fhoes of crimson velvet, after the manner of a prelate. Then they added fpurs with a point, but no rowel, and the fword of Justice was drawn, bluffed, and delivered to the king, who put it into the scabbard, when the archbishop of Canterbury girded it about him. The crown of Saint Edward, which is arched over live a crofs, was next brought and bleffed, and placed by the archbishop on the king's head. When mafs was over, the king left the church, and returned to the palace in the fame ftate as before. There was in the court-yard a fountain that conftantly ran with white and red wine from various mouths. The king went first to his closet, and then returned to the hall to dinner.

"At the first table fat the king, at the fecond the five great peers of England, at the third the principal citizens of London, at the fourth the new created knights, at the fifth all knights and fquires of honour. The king was ferved by the prince of Wales, who carried the fword of Mercy, and on the oppofite fide, by the conftable, who bore the fword of Juftice. At the bottom of the table was the earl of Westmoreland with the fceptre. There were only at the king's table the two archbishops and feventeen bithops.

"When dinner was half over, a knight of the name of Dymock entered the hall completely armed, and mounted on a handfome feed, richly barded with crimfon houtings. knight was armed for wager of battle, and was preceded by another knight bearing his lance: he himfelf had his drawn fword in one hand, and his naked dagger by his fide. The knight prefented the king with a written paper, the contents of which were, that if any knight or gentleman fhould dare to maintain that king Henry was not a lawful fovereign, he was ready to offer him combat in the prefence of the king, when and where he fhould be pleafed to appoint. The king ordered this challenge

to

to be proclaimed by heralds in fix different parts of the town and the hail, to which no answer was made.

"After king Henry had dined, and partaken of wine and fpices in the hall, he retired to his private apartments, and all the company went to their homes. Thus paffed the coronation day of king Henry, who remained that and the enfuing day at the palace of Westminster. The earl of Salisbury could not attend these feafts, for he was in clofe confinement under fecure guards; and the king's minifters, with many of the nobles and citizens of London, were anxious that he fhould be publicly beheaded in Cheapfide. They faid that he was deferving of every punishment, for having carried fuch a message from Richard of Bourdeaux to the French king and his court, and publicly proclaiming king Henry a falfe and wicked traitor, and that thefe were unpardonable crimes.

"The king was naturally good tempered, and, far from in clining to put him to death, took compaffion on him, and lif ened to the excufes he made for what he had done, by throwing the blame on the four knights who had been beheaded, as he had only obeyed their orders. The council and Londoners would not hear his excufes, and would have him execated, for they faid he had deferved it. The earl of Salisbury therefore continued in prifon, in great danger of his life.

"Sir John Holland, earl of Huntingdon, who was governor of Calais, had been duly informed of all that had paffed; how his brother, king Richard, had been arrested and carried to the Tower of London, where he had been condemned to pafs his life, after refigning his crown to Henry of Lancafter, who was acknowledged king of England. The earl of Huntingdon, notwithstanding the vexation the ftate of his brother, king Richard, gave him, weighed well the times and circumstances, and found that he alone could not pretend to withstand the whole power of England. His countefs, fifter-german to king Henry, told him, on his return from Calais to England, My lord, you muft prudently lay afide your anger, and not haftily do any thing you may repent of, for my lord the king, my brother, can thew you much kindness. You fee the whole kingdom is in his favour, and should you commit yourself by any rath act, you are ruined. I advife and entreat you to diffemble your vexation, for king Henry is as much your brother as king Richard. Attach yourfelf to him, and you will find him a good and faithful friend; for there has not been any king of England fo rich as he is, and he may be of the greateft fervice to you and to your children.'

6

"The earl of Huntingdon liftened to what the countefs fid, and followed her advice. He waited on his brother-in-law, king Henry, paid him many refpects, and did his homage, promifing fealty and fervice: the king received him with mach pleafure. The earl, afterwards, with the fupport of other frien is, preffed the king fo ftrongly in favour of the earl of Salimbury,

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that

that his exeufes were heard and accepted: his miffion to France was pardoned, and he regained the favour of the king and people.” P. 669.

It is to be obferved that no notes accompany this performance, nor is there, which we much regret, any index, which in any large work is convenient and ufeful, but particularly fo in a hiftory, where frequent curiofity is excited about perfons and places. To the Memoirs of Joinville, and the very curious Travels of Bertrandon de la Brocquiere in Palestine, we fhall pay our refpects at the first conve pient opportunity.

ART. II. TENПONIKA. Agricultural Purfuits. Tranf lated from the Greek. By the Rev. T. Owen, M. A. of Queen's College, in the University of Oxford, and Rector of Scudamore, in the County of Wilts. 8vo. 2 vols. 15s. White. 1805.*

THE attention which for fome years paft has been paid to every subject connected with agricultural improvement, renders any work directed to that most important object, a matter not merely of fpeculative curiofity, but of great and public concern. The perfection attained by the ancients in arts and sciences, and the care and ftudy bestowed by many illuftrious individuals among them on political economy, of which agriculture forms fo diftinguifhed a branch, will naturally lead the English reader to entertain high expectations from a work, profeffing, as the Geoponica, to embrace an accurate detail of the method of culture adopted by the Greek and Roman husbandmen, and fanctioned by the authority of their beft writers on rural affairs. But whoever fits down to the perufal of the volumes now under our examination, with the expectation of deriving much practical advantage from them, will probably find that expectation difappointed. The chief parts of the work have for their fubject matters, either not cultivated at all, or regarded as of inferior confequence in these climates. The original compiler too, whoever he was, lived at a time when the powerful rays of genius which had thrown fuch fplendor over the Greek and Roman people, were almost entirely ob Icured. He feems alfo to have poffeffed little tafte or judgment; to have collected indifcriminately from all writers with whom he was acquainted, without the power or the

will to feparate the ufeful from the ridiculous; and to have been fingularly pleafed with the introduction of unfounded and abfurd notions, of puerile and fuperftitious practices. To what but this are we to afcribe the grave affurance of the author, "that the right wing of an eagle buried in the middle of a field, prevents the corn and vines from being injured by froft" that "the skin of a feal bound on a lofty vine, fufficiently protects the vineyard from the effects of hail" that the pious words, "Taste and fee that Jehovah is good," will prevent the wine from becoming four: and to mention only one more out of numbers, that "three goats horns fixed in the earth around a grape tree, will render the plant extremely fruitful ?" The writer does indeed in one place apologize for the introduction of these idle and foolish tales, on the ground of having met with them in the writings of the ancients. Yet after making all due allowance for their fuperftitious prejudices, we are compelled to pronounce the man, who, living under a Chriftian prince*, and praifing him for the adoption of that faith +, could fo profufely feafon his work with fuch abfurd traditions, to have poffeffed little knowledge and lefs difcretion: and we cannot but think the few useful precepts, which occur in his mifcellaneous volume, to be the effect of accident rather than difcrimination.

It is, however, our more immediate bufinefs to enquire into the merits of the tranflator; to examine whether he has executed the task undertaken by him, fuch as it is, with judgment and ability; whether he has given to his verfion fuch a degree of elegance as the nature of the work allowed, and whether he has reprefented his author's meaning with the fidelity and exactness indifpenfibly required.

As to the first point, we muft candidly fay, that, in our opinion, he has failed. The ftyle is in our judgement stiff, reftrained, and inharmonious, and every where betrays a foreign air. By confining himself with rigid exactness to the very form and caft of the original; by adopting into his tranflation the idiomatic texture of its expreffions, he has given to his work an uncouth, we had almoft faid barbarous, appearance; he has rendered it ungrateful and difpleafing , to an English ear. The words indeed are vernacular, but the phrafeology is Greek. On this however, as being a matter of tafte, the generality of our readers are competent to decide: and that they may be enabled fo to do, we will

* Conftantine,

+ Vid. Proem. ad L. pr. Bb4

without